NEW YORK –  Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP (Labaton) announces that, on July 30, 2024, it filed a securities class action lawsuit (the Complaint) on behalf of its client Plymouth County Retirement Association (Plymouth County) against CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (CrowdStrike or the Company) (NASDAQ:CRWD) and certain CrowdStrike officers (collectively, Defendants).  The action, which is captioned Plymouth County Retirement Association v. CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc., No. 1:24-cv-00857 (W.D. Tex.), asserts claims under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act), and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, on behalf of all persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired CrowdStrike Class A common stock between November 29, 2023 and July 29, 2024, inclusive (the Class Period).  

CrowdStrike, headquartered in Austin, Texas, is a global cybersecurity company that provides software that helps prevent data breaches.  CrowdStrike’s customers are major corporations across several industries including airlines, banks, hospitals, and telecommunications providers as well as government entities.  CrowdStrike’s main product is the Falcon software platform, which purportedly uses artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to detect, prevent, and respond to security breach threats.  The Falcon software is embedded in the computers of CrowdStrike’s customers and requires constant updates.  

Throughout the Class Period, Defendants repeatedly touted the efficacy of the Falcon platform while assuring investors that CrowdStrike’s technology was “validated, tested, and certified.”  The Complaint alleges that these statements were false and misleading because Defendants had failed to disclose that: (1) CrowdStrike had instituted deficient controls in its procedure for updating Falcon and was not properly testing updates to Falcon before rolling them out to customers; (2) this inadequate software testing created a substantial risk that an update to Falcon could cause major outages for a significant number of the Company’s customers; and (3) such outages could pose, and in fact ultimately created, substantial reputational harm and legal risk to CrowdStrike.  As a result of these materially false and misleading statements and omissions, CrowdStrike stock traded at artificially high prices during the Class Period.  

Beginning on July 19, 2024, investors learned about critical issues with CrowdStrike’s technology when a single update pushed by CrowdStrike caused outages for millions of users of Microsoft Windows devices worldwide, including financial institutions, government entities, and corporations.  Further, CrowdStrike disclosed that the outages had left users vulnerable to potential hacking threats.  On this news, shares of CrowdStrike fell $38.09 or 11% to close at $304.96 on July 19, 2024.  Then, on July 22, 2024, the fallout of the outages was further revealed as Congress called on Defendant Kurtz to testify regarding the crisis and the Company’s stock rating was downgraded by analysts such as Guggenheim and BTIG.  On this news, shares of CrowdStrike fell $41.05 or 13.5% to close at $263.91 on July 22, 2024.  Investors continued to learn about the legal risk Defendants had concealed on July 29,2024, as news outlets reported that Delta Air Lines had hired prominent attorney David Boies to seek damages from the Company following the outages.  On this news, shares of CrowdStrike fell $25.16 or 10% to close at $233.65 on July 30, 2024.

If you purchased or acquired CrowdStrike Class A common stock during the Class Period and were damaged thereby, you are a member of the “Class” and may be able to seek appointment as Lead Plaintiff.  Lead Plaintiff motion papers must be filed no later than September 30, 2024.  The Lead Plaintiff is a court-appointed representative for absent members of the Class. You do not need to seek appointment as Lead Plaintiff to share in any Class recovery in this action.  If you are a Class member and there is a recovery for the Class, you can share in that recovery as an absent Class member.  You may retain counsel of your choice to represent you in this action.

If you would like to consider serving as Lead Plaintiff or have any questions about this lawsuit, you may contact Francis P. McConville, Esq. of Labaton Keller Sucharow, at (212) 907-0650, or via email at fmcconville@labaton.com.  

Plymouth County is represented by Labaton Keller Sucharow, which represents many of the largest pension funds in the United States and internationally with combined assets under management of more than $3.5 trillion.  Labaton Keller Sucharow’s litigation reputation is built on its half-century of securities litigation experience, more than eighty full-time attorneys, and in-house team of investigators, financial analysts, and forensic accountants. Labaton Keller Sucharow has been recognized for its excellence by the courts and peers, and it is consistently ranked in leading industry publications.  Offices are located in New York, Delaware, London, and Washington, D.C.  More information about Labaton Keller Sucharow is available at www.labaton.com.